Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

MY father used to play Pooh sticks when the world of falling shares, sliding sterling, publishers' predictions and traffic jams got him down. Anyway, he thought nothing could be worse than the Trenches.

So he dropped a stick, saw it splash, walked to the sunny side of the bridge and watched his little boat float off into the distance. That's what Sussex folk have done over the Rother far back in time. That is what the bridges are for.

Listen to the water, look at the alder leaves, watch the damselflies in summer and hear the suck of a trout in the big grey swirling pool. Kingfishers live on the river again in spring when they return from coast.

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Once or twice I've seen that long blue line they leave on the memory as they speed underneath the arches. Nearly every bridge has a very special tenant too. I see one quite often, perhaps not as commonly as one would on a Welsh or Westmoorland stream.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette February 11

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